Adrian, Grevers, Schmitt, Smith Named USA Swimming Captains for World Champs

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
  • Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
  • The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
  • Meet site
  • FinaTV Live Stream
  • Live results

Thursday, July 4th, USA Swimming announced four team captains for the fast-approaching 2019 FINA World Championships set to take place in Gwangju, South Korea. Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers, Allison Schmitt, and Leah Smith will lead the American team in Asia later this month. Each one of this year’s captains also served as captains for the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships last summer in Tokyo, Japan.

Combined, the four captains own 30 medals from World Championships (LCM) competition, as well as 24 Olympic medals, 14 of which are gold. The 2019 World Championships will mark the third-consecutive and third total World Championships for Smith (2015, 2017); the fourth-consecutive and fifth total for Grevers (2009, 2013, 2015, 2017); and the sixth-consecutive and seventh overall for Adrian (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017). Schmitt, on the other hand, has not raced at the World Championships since 2011, with her only appearance prior that in Rome 2009. She mounted a comeback in 2018 and earned a spot on Team USA’s silver medal 800 freestyle relay at the Pan Pacific Championships.

Each captain is both an Olympic gold medalist and a world championships gold medalist. Of the four, Smith is the only one lacking an individual Olympic gold medal, though her career has skyrocketed since 2016 when she qualified for her first Olympic team. Now 24-years-old, Smith owns 2 Olympic medals–one silver, one bronze–as well as four World Championships medals. Smith qualified for her first World Championships in 2015, earning a gold medal as a member of the 800 freestyle relay. Last summer at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, Smith served as a team captain.

  • 2018 Pan Pacific Championships team captain; gold medalist in the 800 free relay, silver medalist in the 400 freestyle, and bronze medalist in the 800 freestyle.

Nathan Adrian has been through a lot over the past year, yet despite a diagnosis and treatment for testicular cancer, Adrian has continued swimming and remained consistent. At 30-years-old and his seventh World Championships approaching, Adrian has a great amount of experience as a captain for Team USA. Gwagju marks the third time during this quad that Adrian will serve as a captain. Adrian has been on three Olympic teams. He was also one of six Olympic Team captains in Rio. Some of Adrian’s contributions to Team USA since 2016 include:

  • 2018 Pan Pacific Championships team captain; gold medalist in 400 medley relay;
  • 2017 World Championships team captain; gold medalist 400 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay, 400 mixed freestyle relay; silver medalist 100 freestyle;
  • 2016 Olympic team captain; gold medalist 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay; bronze medalist 50 and 100 freestyles.

At 34-years-old, Matt Grevers is still one of the top 100 backstroke swimmers in the world. At the 2012 London Olympics, Grevers won the 100 backstroke, and led off the American 400 medley relay to get another gold medal. Grevers did not make the Olympic Team in 2016, placing 3rd in the 100 backstroke behind Ryan Murphy and David Plummer. Despite the disappointment, Grevers chose not to retire and made a comeback in 2017, qualifying for the World Championships and beating 100 backstroke World Record holder Ryan Murphy in the process. Grevers has been a member of major international teams since 2005 when he made his first appearance at the World University Games, including two Olympic teams (2008, 2012). As a captain of Team USA, Grevers has helped lead the following teams:

  • 2018 Pan Pacific Championships team captain;
  • 2017 World Championships team captain; gold medalist in 400 medley relay and 400 mixed medley relay; silver medalist 100 backstroke; bronze medalist 50 backstroke;
  • 2015 World Championships team captain; gold medalist 400 medley relay; silver medalist 50 backstroke; and bronze medalist in the 100 backstroke.

29-year-old Allison Schmitt briefly retired after the 2016 Rio Olympics. Though she remains the American Record holder in the 200 LCM freestyle–a mark she set at the 2012 London Olympics when she claimed the gold medal and set the Olympic Record–she chose to hang up the goggles after 2016. Lo and behold, Schmitt returned to training and competition in 2018, and qualified for the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships where she helped Team USA win the silver medal in the 800 freestyle relay.

  • 2018 Pan Pacific Championships team captain; silver medalist 800 freestyle relay.
  • 2016 Olympic team captain; gold medalist 800 freestyle relay.

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Wetbook
5 years ago

Anyone know how to watch Fina world champs in the US? I think finatv is blocked in the US.

Admin
Reply to  Wetbook
5 years ago

We don’t have the schedule yet, but will definitely post it before the meet starts. Should be some combination of NBC and the Olympic Channel

Heather
5 years ago

Excellent choice of leadership! Couldn’t ask for better than these guys!

Granular
5 years ago

Personally, just going on track record, think I would have switched up the captains here. Same exact group as at Pan Pacs last year and for whatever reasons that meet was not the smoothest for Team USA and was not a particularly great one for those four swimmers individually either. I am sure they do a fine job but Adrian and Schmitt have a lot to deal with already, and Smith and Grevers could probably also benefit from full-time focus on their events.

Shimswam
5 years ago

FYI. Smith has 2 Olympic medals: 1 gold 1 bronze (not silver and bronze like it is written)

Troy
5 years ago

Fun fact Grevers Adrain and Schmitty all got Individual Olympic Gold at 2012 Olympics. Schmitty winning the 200 by almost two second one of largest margins while Adrian won by one hundredth. Amazing accomplishments all around

Teddy
5 years ago

Great choices

Most have dealt extremely well with adversity.

Schmidt being candid about her depression and then coming back successfully.

Adrian the cancer and handled the changing of the guard to Dressel with genuine excitement, holding his hand in the air at 2017 worlds.

Grevers had ups and downs and showed his leadership by taking the blame for the medley relay turnover.

Less that I know about smith, but she seems very professional.

Ryan
Reply to  Teddy
5 years ago

Leah is just a badass in general.

Swimman444
Reply to  Ryan
5 years ago

Why so many dislikes for saying someone is bad ass? Wtf ?

Nswim
5 years ago

Great choices for Team USA with experience on their side, only wish they could fly someone like Beisel or Phelps out to be an honorary captain

Go USA
5 years ago

Why no ledecky?? She has more experience then smith.

Admin
Reply to  Go USA
5 years ago

Traditionally these captains are voted on by the other members of the team.

Nswim
Reply to  Go USA
5 years ago

Probably age, experience range in terms of addressing the team as a whole. Ledecky is a beast at practice that would be good, but perhaps the swimmers thought that they wanted to look for different roles to fill while choosing them

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Go USA
5 years ago

Phelps wasn’t a captain of an international team until his last Olympics. Must be a GOAT thing.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
5 years ago

maybe he did not want to fill that role for years – and eventually accepted it on his last OG

dmswim
Reply to  Go USA
5 years ago

While Ledecky is a phenomenal swimmer, she might not be as much of a natural or vocal leader as Schmitt and Smith, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their strengths and can be a great teammate in a different way, and for these four, being a vocal leader is how they do it. Congrats to them and go Team USA!

About Reid Carlson

Reid Carlson

Reid Carlson originally hails from Clay Center, Kansas, where he began swimming at age six with the Clay Center Tiger Sharks, a summer league team. At age 14 he began swimming club year-round with the Manhattan Marlins (Manhattan, KS), which took some convincing from his mother as he was very …

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